For all the opprobrium heaped upon him, William Shatner was not always a bad actor, though he has become a cliché. (The price of greatness, or at least fame.)
His training at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal gave him a strong start. After he honed his talent at CBLT, the CBC station in Toronto--where many Canadians have been before their fame down south.
He went on to great guest work in such television series as Rod Serling's Twilight Zone: He was in the famous, black and white, episode of the monster on the plane wing--now re-done in color with John Lithgow in the Shatner role.
William Shatner is not the first Canadian to take on the role of American, so well, and so woodenly, that we think him a ham. Nor is he the last.